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Revelation – Fifth angel sounds trumpet

Revelation – Fifth angel sounds trumpet

Studying Revelation, I often ponder many word pictures by John, as he explains what is revealed to him. These were future events, with future technology in some cases. Imagine living 2,000 years ago, you’ve never seen airplanes, cars, locomotives, rockets, yet, you need to describe them so people can understand. Such is the case in the subtitled section of Revelation – Fifth angel sounds trumpet in Chapter 9.

Revelation Chapter 9

The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss.2 When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss.3 And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth.4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.5 They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes.6 During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.

In Revelation Chapter 9, we read the Fifth angel sounds the trumpet. In verses 1 thru 11, John describes a swarm coming out of the Abyss. The swarm is thick, blocking out the light of the sun, LIKE a swarm of locusts. John uses the word LIKE many times in his descriptions. This swarm has power to torment people, they sting like scorpions, causing pain, but they cannot kill. John says the people wish they could die rather than endure the pain and agony.

John describes the swarm

In Chapter 9 verse 7, John describes the swarm

7 The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces.8 Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth.9 They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle.10 They had tails with stingers, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months.11 They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).

Who controls the swarm?

John tells us who released this swarm, his name is Abaddon. When the Bible speaks of Satan, he has many names, Lucifer being one such name. Here it would seem that John is describing another evil being that works for Satan. From these passages, we see a swarm come from the pit of hell, they are let loose by a worker of Satan, named Abaddon.

As helpless as John

As I read this, I am as helpless as John in trying to picture what he has seen of the End Times. So, I’m not saying this video is a fulfillment or a precursor to the fulfillment of these verses, but seeing this video makes John’s description a little easier to understand.